


Of Metal Arms and Conspiracies

by Lyri46



Series: Marvel-lous Fairytales [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Cinderella AU, M/M, Romance, Very loosely anyway, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:29:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyri46/pseuds/Lyri46
Summary: Stony Cinderella Fairytale AU. Very loosely anyway. Steve is determined to speak to the person responsible for the metal arm attached to Bucky that's slowly killing him, and after being left behind by his squad when they go to an SI party, he decides to grate crash. Whilst there he meets a very interesting, dark haired character who says he might be able to help Bucky.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Marvel-lous Fairytales [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756090
Comments: 42
Kudos: 108





	1. Invitation Denied

Steve’s struggling to focus on the book in his hands when Rumlow walks in reading a letter.

‘Where’s everyone else?’ he demands.

Steve shrugs. ‘Think a couple are out. Sam and Blake are in their rooms, Sam said something about talking with family. Bucky’s obviously still in hospital. Not sure about the others.’

Rumlow glares at him. Technically Steve is the same rank as Rumlow, but as he and Bucky are currently on forced medical absence he has to defer to Rumlow while they work towards getting back into active service. Not that Bucky will ever be able to get back into active service if they can’t solve the problem with his arm.

‘One day, _Rogers_ , you’re going to actually show me some respect,’ he snarls.

‘Maybe one day,’ Steve agrees, closing his book, ‘when you’ve actually _earned_ it, Rumlow.’

‘The day you’re out of my hair and onto the front lines where some lucky bastard gets to shoot you, Rogers, is the day I most look forwards to,’ he snaps, before stomping down the corridor to bang on the other soldiers’ doors, hollering for them to come down to the living room.

After the _incident_ which had severely injured Bucky, and Steve himself had barely survived, they’d been stuck in this house with the rest of Rumlow’s squad. Steve was near crazy dealing with the asshole that was Brock Rumlow. Bucky was in and out of hospital too much to understand just how terrible this squad was. Well apart from Sam, he was actually a decent guy and Steve isn’t sure how such a nice guy ended up in this squad.

Rumlow stomps back into the living area, pulling Steve from his thoughts, Blake and Andrew behind him looking curious, followed by Sam who looks more than a little annoyed at being dragged out.

‘What’s going on?’ Sam asks, once they’re all in the room. ‘Why are we not waiting for Luke, Caesar and Paul to get back?’

‘I’ll fill them in when they get here,’ Rumlow replies, ‘this,’ he holds up the letter he was reading, ‘is an invite for the squad to the Stark Industries party next week.’

‘You’re kidding me!’ Andrew takes the letter from Rumlow. ‘These are like gold dust!’

Steve’s heart is in his throat. This is perfect. This is exactly the opportunity he needs.

‘And it says the _whole_ squad?’ Sam asks, going to stand next to Andrew and read over his shoulder. ‘I mean I can understand the captain of a squad, but _all_ of us?’

‘Eh, you know what Stark’s like. He likes to show off,’ Rumlow shrugs. ‘But that means you need to get your dress uniforms ready, boys. We got a party to go to in four days’ time.’

‘Hell yeah, it’s a free bar as well!’ Blake says, looking over Andrew’s other shoulder.

‘What time is it starting?’ Steve asks, standing up from his chair.

Rumlow gives him the self-satisfied smirk that always makes Steve want to punch something. Preferably Rumlow’s face. ‘You aren’t going, Rogers.’

‘Excuse me?’ Steve’s voice is cold and dangerous, and he’s trying to keep his anger under control.

‘You heard me, blondie. _You_ aren’t going.’

‘And why the hell not?’ he demands. ‘The invite said the _entire_ squad didn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Rumlow replies. ‘But you aren’t exactly a full member of my squad now are you?’

‘I hardly think they’re going to argue that at the event,’ Steve crosses his arms.

‘And someone needs to be with Barnes,’ he adds.

‘Since when have you given a damn about Bucky?’

‘Since I know that if you come along you’re just going to be kicking up a fuss about that damned arm of Barnes’ and I am _not_ having you ruin our shot at getting the attention of the main weapons supplier of the US Army. Do I make myself clear Rogers?’

‘If you think I’m going to sit here and miss the chance to get Buck’s arm fixed-’

‘I’m _ordering_ you to, Rogers,’ Rumlow growls. ‘And since you are _temporarily_ in _my_ squad you will follow that order or shall I report you for insubordination?’

Steve stands facing him, hands clenched into fists at his side and tries desperately to withhold the urge to smash his face in. He catches Sam’s eye and the other man shakes his head minutely. ‘ _Fine,_ ’ he snarls.

* * *

There’s a soft knock on his door the day before the party.

‘Come in,’ Steve calls, putting down his pencil and looking up to greet his visitor. ‘Hey Sam.’

‘Hey,’ the shorter man says, closing the door and taking the only seat in the room. ‘You doing alright?’

‘Guess so, considering everything,’ Steve sighs, moving to sit on his bed so he’s facing Sam.

‘How’s Bucky? You saw him earlier right?’

‘Yeah, he’s uh, he’s doing better I guess. Just got to wait for everything they’re pumping him with to actually start working.’

‘He’ll be alright, Steve, he’s about as stubborn as you are, you just got to give him time.’

‘I know, it’s just…it’s hard you know? He’s basically my brother, we’ve been through a lot together, and I can’t do anything to help him. And this party…it would have been the chance to speak to the people that have caused all this new set of problems and try to get it sorted, and Rumlow won’t let me go,’ he fists his hair in his frustration.

Sam studies him quietly for a couple of moments. ‘You’re going tomorrow night aren’t you?’

‘What makes you say that?’

Sam laughs. ‘I’m the only one who has actually taken the time to get to know you Steve. I know you aren’t going to sit here and pass up an opportunity like this to help your friend.’

‘Alright…’ Steve wonders where this is going. Is Sam going to tell Rumlow what he’s planning?

‘It starts at seven,’ Sam tells him, putting a piece of paper on his desk as he stands up to leave, ‘this is the address. I’ll try and keep Brock as busy as possible. Good luck.’

‘Thank you,’ he says as Sam leaves, giving him a small salute as he does. Yeah, Rumlow does _not_ deserve someone like Sam in his squad. When he and Bucky are back in active service, and Steve’s back in charge of his own squad, he’s getting Sam transferred. He doesn’t care how many favours he has to call in or how many boots he has to lick.

* * *

‘Rogers!’

‘What now?’ Steve grumbles to himself as he leaves his room to answer Rumlow’s summons. When he reaches the living room the rest of the squad are there, all in their dress uniforms. Sam shoots him a warning look to play nice and keep his cool. He’s right he can’t afford to lose his temper and risk letting Rumlow know of his plan.

‘Well, well, looks like you are going to play ball after all,’ Rumlow sneers when he notices the dark jeans and hoodie that Steve has on.

‘What else did you expect me to do?’ he counters.

‘We’re just leaving,’ Rumlow says, as if he’d never spoken. ‘So sorry you won’t be joining us at the ball, Cinderella.’

‘I think I’ll cope without having to spend time with arrogant assholes who can’t get their tech right.’

‘Whatever. See you when we get back, Rogers,’ Rumlow waves him off and leads the others out of the door, obviously upset at not having succeeded in riling Steve up. Sam winks at him as he closes the door behind them.

Now he’s alone, and this is going to be the hardest part: being patient and waiting for the party to be in full swing before heading over there. He does everything he can think of to kill time, but it just seems to go by at half speed. Eventually he gives up, deciding he can walk part of the way and give himself time to work out what he’s going to say when he gets there.

Because if there’s one thing he’s determined to do by the end of tonight, it’s to give Tony Stark a piece of his mind.


	2. The Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gate-crashes the SI party, but before he can get inside he meets a dark-haired man who says he can help Bucky.

Steve leans against the trunk of a tree round the back of the venue, he’s decided to avoid the main door seeing as he hasn’t come with the rest of the squad and therefore doesn’t have a physical invitation to show them. He isn’t exactly dressed for the party either, having not changed out of the dark jeans and hoodie he’d been wearing earlier. Now he just has to find the best way to get in, and find a way to talk to someone who may be able to help him.

‘Come on Rogers,’ he mutters to himself, ‘you can do this.’

‘Do you often hide in shadows and talk to yourself?’ a voice asks, clearly amused.

Steve looks over and sees another man, sharply dressed in an obviously expensive suit, with dark hair and eyes, and a goatee that accentuates a mouth that’s currently turned up in an amused grin. ‘No,’ he admits with a soft laugh, scratching the back of his head, ‘not that often.’

‘So you’re not intending on coming here and kidnapping me are you?’

‘Why would I want to kidnap you?’ Steve asks, wondering who on earth he’s managed to stumble into. The guy is clearly a bit strange.

The man raises an eyebrow and gives him an assessing look. ‘No reason,’ he shrugs, ‘just…you know big party, expensive suit,’ he gestures to what he’s wearing, ‘just thought you might have gone for the first person you found wandering outside hoping to get a pay out.’

‘Do I look like a kidnapper to you?’

‘That’s the thing about kidnappers, they look like normal people. So if you aren’t here to kidnap someone I guess you’re here to gate crash?’

‘Not really…well kind of…it’s a bit tricky to explain.’

‘Oh now this sounds interesting,’ the man leans against the stone railing in front of him. ‘Care to enlighten me?’

‘Only if you can help me speak to someone in research and development.’

The man raises an eyebrow at him, and Steve would have sworn the guy was trying not to laugh at him. ‘I work in R&D I’m sure I’ll be able to help, or at least speak to someone who can. Who are you anyway?’

‘I’m… I’m Steve,’ he replies, hesitating from automatically giving his rank and full name, ‘I’m with Captain Rumlow’s squad.’

The man raises an eyebrow. ‘The squad who have a member using the new prosthesis right? Why didn’t you come with the rest of them?’

Steve scratches the back of his head. ‘That’s part of the problem, the prosthesis I mean.’

‘What do you mean? I’d heard it was successful,’ the man is now frowning in confusion.

‘Maybe you aren’t as well informed as you think then,’ Steve spits. ‘I’m sorry,’ he adds, ‘the soldier who has the prosthesis is my best friend, it’s not exactly been easy.’

‘What hasn’t been easy?’ the man is much more focused now, looking at him with intense dark eyes. ‘What happened with the prosthesis?’

Steve looks at him with much more interest now. ‘Why are you so interested?

The man looks down at the railing and sighs before looking back at him. ‘I worked on the prosthesis myself, I know the hope was to move the company towards doing more prosthesis work so if this one isn’t successful like I thought that could have an impact on whether we can continue working on them.’

‘ _You_ worked on them?’ Steve asks, shocked that he’s been so lucky as to find one of the very people he needs to speak to.

‘Yeah,’ the man shoots him a small smile that warms his eyes, ‘what you surprised I got the brains to work on something as complex as a fully functioning replica of a human arm?’

‘I might be more shocked if it actually did what you’re boasting it can.’

‘What are you talking about? All the tests were fully operational and functioned as well as a human arm, if not better in some aspects.’ The smile falling from his face again.

‘Well the one you sent to Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes wasn’t fully functional.’

The man stands up and studies him. ‘Tell me everything.’

‘Why? What are you going to do?’ Steve asks.

‘I’m going to make it right,’ the man answers, with such sincerity that Steve can’t help but believe it. ‘I’m one of the leads on the project.’

‘What’s your name?’ Steve asks.

The man appears to pause for a moment. ‘Tony,’ he answers, holding out his hand.

‘Nice to meet you, Tony,’ Steve smiles, shaking the offered hand. There’s callouses on the palm and fingers which proves his story of being one of the main people on the projects. This wasn’t one of the pampered rich boys who usually came to Stark’s parties, this man was a worker.

‘Now do you want to tell me what’s going on with your friend and his arm?’

Steve sighs, letting Tony’s hand fall from his. ‘Alright. Long story short, something seems to have gone wrong when the arm was being attached to his brain and now it only works intermittently, it’s causing him huge amounts of pain that even the strongest painkillers can only take the edge off, and there’s an infection set in that the doctors can’t get under control.’

The shock on Tony’s face is real enough. ‘You can’t be serious?’ he asks. ‘I thought the implant was a success and that the soldier was able to use the arm without any issues. Though…’ he trails off and looks thoughtfully back at the party, ‘I did wonder why he wasn’t with the squad when we got introduced earlier. Why wouldn’t your Captain have said anything? I asked how the soldier was doing and he said all was fine and he wasn’t up for dealing with large crowds yet.’

‘Sounds like the kind of crap Rumlow would come out with,’ Steve snarls.

Tony raises an eyebrow. ‘I thought he was your Captain? Aren’t you supposed to be polite about him?’

‘He’s _not_ my Captain,’ Steve frowns. ‘We’ve been temporarily assigned to his squad until we’re ready for active duty again. But I’m not going anywhere until Bucky’s alright. At this rate,’ Steve pauses and swallows past the lump in his throat.

‘At this rate what?’ Tony asks gently.

Steve’s never voiced this particular fear to anyone before. ‘At this rate I think he’s more likely to die than he is to recover. I almost wish,’ he sighs and leans on the stone banister, looking down at the stone beneath his arms, ‘I wish he’d never volunteered for the program. Even when I had nothing I had Buck, and there’s nothing I can do to help him.’

There’s a brief silence, then there’s a hand on his arm. ‘Steve look at me, please.’ Steve does as Tony asks him. This close Steve can see there’s flecks of gold in the dark eyes, and they are looking at him with an intensity that makes Steve want to believe anything that comes out of his mouth. ‘I swear to you I had no idea this is what was happening, I honestly believed everything was alright with your friend. I also swear to you that I shall get this sorted out and your friend _will_ recover.’

‘Tony I’m not sure you’re the person who’s going to be able to make all that happen, but thank you.’

‘You’d be surprised, Steve,’ Tony says with a smile. ‘If your friend hasn’t had a visit from Stark Industries within the week call the office and ask for Tony from R&D.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ Steve blinks at the shorter man.

‘I’m deadly serious. Now you better get out of here before someone thinks you’re here to gate-crash properly.’

‘I…alright. Thank you, Tony,’ Steve smiles at him, and he sees Tony blink in surprise.

‘You…you’re welcome. Now go on, soldier, get out of here.’

Steve nods and heads back the way he’s come, just as he’s about to join the street he looks back and sees Tony still stood watching him and raises his hand in farewell before he turns the corner and loses sight of him.

* * *

Tony watches the blond disappear, mind whirling with everything he’s just learned. He has a bad feeling about all of this.

‘Tony! You can’t just disappear at your own party,’ he knows that voice.

‘Pepper darling, I’m on my way back now. But I need you to do a few things for me.’

‘You mean apart from make sure you actually do what you’re _supposed_ to be doing?’ Pepper raises an eyebrow at him.

‘I want you to cancel all appointments for tomorrow-’

‘Tony what on earth are you-’

‘-and then I want you to find the hospital that is currently treating the soldier who volunteered for the prosthesis project, a one James Buchanan Barnes, and I want you to get me an appointment to see the team treating him.’

‘But I thought that all went-’

‘So did I,’ he says, voice low and dangerous. ‘I’ve just found out someone has been lying to us and that man’s life is in danger. I’m putting this right, Pep, and then I’m finding out why it got this far. Keep it on the down low. I don’t want anyone knowing what I’m up to. Say I’m on one of my lockdowns or something.’

‘You even want to keep this from Obadiah?’

‘Yes,’ Tony says, hating the heaviness in his heart as he says that and leads his secretary back into the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! Thought I'd start the new story with a double update, so I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you think so far.
> 
> This is the first of the stories that I'll be posting that are based around fairytales, some of them (like this one) are VERY loosely based on them, and others will be much more in line with the original stories. I know, it's more Stony. I feel like I should do something different so let me know if there's any particular pairings or pairings with a fairytale that you'd like to see! 
> 
> Hope you're all staying safe.  
> Love always,  
> L x
> 
> Here's your sneak peek:
> 
> ‘You cannot just walk in here and demand to see my patients!’ Doctor Blane is shouting as they approach Bucky’s door.  
> Where are they going? Bucky wonders.  
> ‘The hell I can’t,’ the other voice responds, and Bucky gets his answer when the door to his room is opened and there’s Doctor Blake standing the doorway with none other than-  
> ‘Fuck me,’ Bucky says. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’


	3. Unexpected Visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky gets a visit in hospital from the last person in the world he was expecting to see. He also learns his best friend is even more of an idiot than he first thought.

‘Good morning, Sergeant Barnes, how are you feeling this morning?’ The nurse is far too cheerful and it makes Bucky grind his teeth to bite back on his annoyance; he knows she’s only doing her job but it’s the exceptionally cheery tone that he can’t stand.

‘Same as always,’ he grinds out, ‘just waiting to die.’

‘Now, now, Sergeant,’ she admonishes him, ‘we don’t like that kind of defeatist talk.’

‘Easy for you to say. You’re not the one with a piece of metallic junk attached to your brain that’s slowly killing you,’ he says, looking up at the ceiling he’s been looking at for the past few months. One of Steve’s paintings in stuck up there, and there’s some more around the room. His friend’s attempt to give him something other than sterile white to look at.

‘I know it’s not easy- what on earth is all that noise?’ For the first time ever Bucky hears the nurse’s tone slip into annoyance and allows himself a small grin. Someone has finally managed to ruffle Belinda’s feathers.

_Guess that means she isn’t actually an advanced robot then,_ Bucky muses to himself. The commotion outside is getting closer and closer which means the words are getting clearer; someone is obviously not happy, but Bucky doesn’t recognise that voice, he’s not shouting, whoever it is, but from his tone he’s making enough of an impact. The other voice is one he does recognise: it’s the doctor in charge of his care and the man is shouting like Bucky is more used to him doing to his underlings. Needless to say Bucky doesn’t think much of him.

‘You cannot just walk in here and demand to see my patients!’ Doctor Blane is shouting as they approach Bucky’s door.

_Where are they going?_ Bucky wonders.

‘The hell I can’t,’ the other voice responds, and Bucky gets his answer when the door to his room is opened and there’s Doctor Blake standing the doorway with none other than-

‘Fuck me,’ Bucky says. ‘What the fuck are you doing here?’

‘Sergeant Barnes!’ Belinda scolds him. ‘Mr Stark I am so sorry for his rudeness I’m afraid it’s due to the-’

‘Due to the fact that you’ve managed to fuck up the surgery that was trusted to you and have been successfully slowly killing him?’ Tony Stark demands, turning an intensely burning gaze on the nurse, who shrinks back at the force of it. ‘You,’ he turns round and jabs a finger into Doctor Blane’s chest, ‘get the fuck out. You don’t come near this patient again. Do I make myself clear?’

‘You can’t tell me when I can and cannot treat my patients,’ Blane scoffs.

‘He’s not your patient. As of now Sergeant Barnes is being transferred to the side room that is usually set aside for my use, and he will be treated by my personal physician. His care is no longer your concern. Now get the hell out.’

‘You can’t-’

‘I just did,’ Stark replies, shutting the door in Blane’s face. ‘You,’ he jabs a finger at Belinda. ‘Go and get Doctor Strange. Now!’

Belinda looks like a rabbit caught in headlights for a couple of moments, before she just nods and scurries out of the room.

Stark sighs and slumps into a chair, taking out his phone. ‘Sorry, Barnes, I need to make a very important call. Then I’ll explain what the fuck is going on.’

‘Right…’ Bucky’s still trying to process everything, including the fact that _Tony Stark_ is sitting in his hospital room.

‘Pepper? I need you to get onto our friends and tell them to get onto Doctor Blane. Make sure he doesn’t contact anyone alright? No it’s worse than I thought. I’m getting him under Stephen’s care. Why? Pepper get the hell down here and see for yourself! Alright, alright I'm sorry, you know I love you Pep. I know, I couldn’t survive without you. No I am very much aware of that. Pepper I need to explain to Sergeant Barnes what is going on. No I will. Yes I will be patient with Stephen. No I’m not going to annoy him. Bye Pepper!’

‘That your partner or your Mom?’ Bucky asks.

Stark laughs. ‘My assistant would you believe. She’s the only one who can actually get me to do the stuff that needs doing and not murder me in the process. She’s also a saint and one of my best friends. Speaking of which,’ he sighs again and comes over to the bed, ‘I had one of yours pay me a visit and tell me what was going on. I’m sorry.’

‘Sorry for fucking up and nearly killing me you mean?’ Bucky demands, narrowing his eyes at the man.

‘This isn’t the arm I sent over to them,’ Stark replies, looking at the _thing_ attached to Bucky’s shoulder. ‘I don’t even know _who_ made this, or how they got the specs seeing as it was my _personal_ project. But that’s something I need to work out and not for you to worry about.’

‘Wait. _You_ were the one who made my arm?’

‘Yes and no. I was _supposed_ to have made your arm. This, whatever the hell this is supposed to be, is _not_ the arm that I sent out.’

‘So…why is this the one attached to me then?’

‘That,’ Stark says, looking directly into his eyes, ‘is _exactly_ what I plan to find out. First things first, though, I’m transferring you to my private room and taking on all of your medical care so we can get this sorted. My personal doctor, well I say doctor he’s more a personal friend who ended up becoming a doctor and is the only one who can get me to actually have any form of medical treatment. He’s actually a brain surgeon.’

‘You have a _brain surgeon_ as your personal doctor?’

‘Well…it’s more I have a friend who’s a brain surgeon who ends up being the only doctor who can stand me long enough to actually treat me. Plus he knows even _I_ wouldn’t be able to get him struck from the medical register.’

‘I’m dreaming,’ Bucky mumbles, ‘I’ve actually lost it from all the meds.’

Stark laughs. ‘Sorry to disappoint you but this is real. Your friend Steve came and found me.’

‘He did _what?_ ’ Bucky demands, leaning back with a groan. ‘Oh god what did that punk do this time?’

‘Well in his defence he didn’t know it was me.’

‘How did he manage to miss the fact he was talking to Tony Stark?’

‘I honestly don’t know, but it was really refreshing to be spoken to like a normal person.’

‘My best friend is a moron.’

Stark laughs. ‘Nah, he’s not really. He managed to plan a way to get to speak to someone to help you, I’d just say he’s not all that up to date on celebrity culture. Which, as I said, I’m really not complaining about.’

‘Please tell me he didn’t insult you to your face,’ Bucky begs.

‘Well he didn’t greet me with a “fuck me” at any rate. Unfortunately.’

‘Oh god that was my reaction wasn’t it? I blame the painkillers. And the pain.’

Stark laughs again. ‘I like you Barnes. I promise you, I’m going to get you fixed up, and then I’m going to find out why all this happened.’

Bucky is about to open his mouth to thank the man, still struggling to fully process the fact that _the_ Tony Stark is standing in his hospital room promising to fix him, when there’s another commotion in the corridor and the door to his room is flung open and a very irate doctor storms in.

‘Of all the arrogant, egotistical people I have the misfortune to know, Tony Stark, you are by far the worst!’ the doctor thunders. ‘Just what gives you the right to pull me away when I’m about to go into surgery?’

Stark sighs, goes to the foot of the bed and, taking Bucky’s notes, hands them over to the doctor. The surgeon, as Bucky assumes this is the brain surgeon friend he’d mentioned earlier, takes it with a glare and then looks down and reads the notes. ‘He’s the one who volunteered for the arm.’

‘That was successful wasn’t it?’ the doctor asks, not looking up from the folder.

‘Does it look successful to you?’ Stark demands, gesturing to where Bucky’s laying.

The doctor looks from the folder to Bucky and back down again, and he can see the man’s face slipping into a look that Bucky knows very well and has come to term “professional worry”. Everyone seems to wear it around him. ‘What the hell has been going on here?’

‘Well, Stephen,’ Stark rolls his eyes at Bucky, ‘I’d say either Sergeant Barnes and I have pissed off the same person and they’ve used this as an excuse to try and hurt both of us. Or someone is trying to ruin my prosthesis project and is willing to harm Sergeant Barnes in the process.’

‘Tony,’ Stephen sighs, ‘I thought I told you to be careful.’

‘I was,’ Stark replies, ‘but obviously not careful enough.’

‘This is decidedly more serious that you first thought isn’t it?’ Stephen raises an eyebrow at him, then waves off whatever reply Stark is about to give. ‘Later. Right now I need to sort out the transfer of my patient. You have a new arm ready I assume?’

‘Yeah, it’s waiting with Happy.’

‘Right. We’ll get him transferred and have an actual _decent_ attempt at getting this infection under control. Hopefully we’ll be able to take him in for surgery in a couple of days. Can I call you when the arm needs attaching? I assume you don’t want to trust anyone else with this?’

‘This is why we’re friends, Stephen,’ and Bucky sees Stark give the doctor a relieved smile, the soldier in him noting the loosening of the tight shoulders. He turns back to Bucky. ‘Sergeant Barnes this is Doctor Stephen Strange, and he is now going to be in charge of your care.’

‘Pleasure to meet you Sergeant Barnes,’ Stephen says, snapping his folder of notes shut. ‘I don’t intend for you to be the patient to break my perfect record, so I suggest you prepare yourself to recover.’

‘Bucky,’ he manages to get past his tight throat. ‘I’ve had enough “Sergeant Barnes” from overly cheerful nurses.’

Stephen gives him a sympathetic smile. ‘I’m afraid the nurses I work with are rather more matter-of-fact, though still optimistic. I can’t abide the nurses who seem to think they’re auditioning for a role as Barbie.’

‘Oh thank god,’ Bucky sighs in relief.

Stark laughs. ‘I have to get some things sorted. I’ll come and visit you soon.’

‘Thanks, Stark.’

‘It’s Tony,’ the inventor replies as he leaves with a smile and a wave.

Stephen sighs and shakes his head as the door closes. ‘He’s always like that. Come on Bucky let’s get you transferred so I can get back to the surgery I’m supposed to be doing.’

‘Sorry-’

‘Oh no, don’t start apologising for Tony,’ Stephen laughs, ‘you’ll be doing it for eternity if you start.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you're all staying safe. Well here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much to everyone who has left comments so far, I'm glad you all seem to be enjoying my latest ramblings.
> 
> Although I do have to make a huge apology: one of my readers on FF.net pointed out I'd been spelling Rumlow's name wrong the whole way through the first two chapters. I'm changing it on all future ones first and then I'll go back and edit the previous ones. Sorry everyone! And big thank you to Silvertikal for pointing it out.
> 
> Please do let me know what you think of this chapter, and thank you to everyone who is reading my stories.  
> Stay safe and love always,  
> L x
> 
> As always here's your sneak peek:  
> ‘Yeah I got a bone to pick with you,’ Bucky raises an eyebrow at him, waiting for the nurse to finish her jobs and leave and for Steve to take a seat, a much comfier seat than what he’d had before, before continuing. ‘So you failed to mention you’d spoken to someone at Stark Industries.’  
>  ‘Well, I didn’t want to get your hopes up,’ Steve shrugs. ‘Plus it was only yesterday so I haven’t exactly had chance to tell you.’  
>  ‘Just who did you speak to from Stark Industries Stevie, and how?’  
>  So Steve explains the invitation to the party, and sneaking over there whilst the rest of the team were inside, and meeting Tony outside. ‘He said he was just Tony from R&D. Why?’


	4. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky isn't where Steve left him, and he finds out a little bit more about Tony from R&D

‘Excuse me, miss?’ Steve asks the nurse at the station. ‘Could you tell me where Sergeant James Barnes is please?’

The nurse sniffs, not looking up from her computer screen. ‘Sergeant Barnes got taken up to one of the private suites.’

‘Uh…ok. Would you be able to tell me where he is please?’

The nurse huffs in annoyance. ‘Go up to the tenth floor, he’ll be in C ward, you can ask the nurses there where he is.’

‘Right…thank you,’ Steve says, trying to take all the information that’s just been delivered in the most bored tone he thinks he’s ever heard come out of someone’s mouth. He heads back towards the elevators and pushes the call button. _What the hell happened to make Bucky change to a private suite?_ He wonders.

_“If your friend hasn’t had a visit from Stark Industries within the week call the office and ask for Tony from R &D.”_

 _No way_ , he thinks, shaking his head, _not this quickly._ He steps into the open doors and presses the button for floor ten, watching the number on the screen above the door slowly climb. He’s still lost in his thoughts when the doors open on floor ten and he nearly misses jumping out before they close again.

‘Hello. Can I help you?’ the nurse at the station asks him.

‘Errm…I’m looking for Sergeant James Barnes, I was told he was brought up here?’

‘Bucky? Yeah he’s down in room C3. Here I’ll show you,’ she says, ‘it’s time I go and take his obs anyway.’

‘Oh, thanks,’ Steve says, blinking at the complete change in helpfulness from this nurse compared to the last one.

‘Here we are,’ she says, opening a door. ‘Hi Bucky, your friend has come to visit. I’m just going to do your obs is that alright?’

‘Hey, yeah no worries Karen,’ Bucky is laying in bed, but he’s looking a lot more alert than he has in so long that Steve feels like crying.

‘Buck?’

‘Hey punk,’ he says with a smile, ‘so you finally found me.’

‘What happened? And I mean that in both the changing of the room and that you’re looking less like you’re about to leave me here without your sorry ass to pull out of trouble.’

‘Yeah I got a bone to pick with you,’ Bucky raises an eyebrow at him, waiting for the nurse to finish her jobs and leave and for Steve to take a seat, a much comfier seat than what he’d had before, before continuing. ‘So you failed to mention you’d spoken to someone at Stark Industries.’

‘Well, I didn’t want to get your hopes up,’ Steve shrugs. ‘Plus it was only yesterday so I haven’t exactly had chance to tell you.’

‘Just who _did_ you speak to from Stark Industries Stevie, and how?’

So Steve explains the invitation to the party, and sneaking over there whilst the rest of the team were inside, and meeting Tony outside. ‘He said he was just Tony from R&D. Why?’

‘Tony from….oh Stevie you really are an idiot,’ Bucky laughs, then groans and holds his chest as it starts to hurt.

‘What?’ Steve demands, frowning. ‘His hands were covered in calluses from where he obviously does a lot of hands on work, so I had no reason _not_ to believe him. Why are you laughing at me?’

Bucky just continues to laugh at him, tears streaming down his face. ‘Steve I love you, but you really are an idiot.’

Before Steve can work out what the hell Bucky is on about the door opens and the very man in question walks in, apparently just finishing a call. ‘Yes Pepper I’m behaving. No why would you think that? Oh Stephen told you that did he? Well you know he’s about as trustworthy as I am. Hey! What do you mean you trust him more than me? You wound me Miss Potts. I need to speak to Bucky. That will be all, Miss Potts.’ He hangs up and rolls his eyes at Bucky. ‘Honestly that woman is _worse_ than my mother. Oh,’ he blinks when he catches sight of Steve, ‘hello again,’ he smiles at him.

‘Hello,’ Steve replies, and tries to ignore the sniggering from the bed. ‘You really weren’t joking when you said you’d get it all sorted were you?’

‘Hey when I make a promise I tend to keep it,’ Tony shrugs.

‘But how did you manage this, Tony?’

‘Oh my god you’re such a moron!’ Bucky laughs from the bed. ‘Stevie you ran into Tony _Stark_.’

Tony sighs. ‘Well there goes being a normal person.’

_Wait. Tony is…_ ‘You’re Tony _Stark?_ ’ Steve repeats. ‘As in the owner of Stark Industries Tony Stark?’

‘How many other Tony Stark’s do you know?’ Bucky asks him.

‘You said you were Tony from R&D,’ Steve ignores his best friend.

‘Well I am,’ the dark haired man replies, looking a little unsure. ‘I mean I _am_ the R&D department. Well there’s other people that work for R&D but I do the majority of the work. Oh shit that sounded really arrogant didn’t it? Pepper told me to tone it down.’

Bucky laughs. ‘This is much more entertaining than the gossip that Karen’s been feeding me. Did you know they all think Doctor Strange and Doctor Palmer are shacking up?’

‘Stephen and Christine? Yeah they had a thing a while ago but he’s not big on commitment. He’s more of a career guy. Always has been. I keep trying to get him to settle down but he’s not having any of it. Points out that if I’m not going to settle down then I can’t preach to him about it,’ Tony shrugs.

‘I’m still processing the fact I was complaining to the head of Stark Industries about his products,’ Steve groans, putting his head in his hands. ‘I’m _so_ sorry, I didn’t mean-’

‘Hey stop,’ Tony cuts him off. ‘I’m glad you did, Steve. If you hadn’t told me what had happened with Bucky I wouldn’t have been able to help, and I wouldn’t have found out that there’s someone in my company trying to sabotage my attempts to branch out from weapons.’

‘What?’ he asks, looking back up at the man and noting the tight lines that had appeared since last night.

‘Look, I’ll be honest,’ Tony starts pacing, ‘Pepper, that’s my assistant,’ he says to Steve, ‘who is basically my mom at this point, doesn’t think I should be telling you this but I think you deserve to know considering how much this has affected you. So I’m hoping you’ll keep it quiet until I’ve got everything sorted out.’

‘We’re soldiers, Tony,’ Bucky answers for them both, ‘we’re used to following orders and keeping our mouths shut.’

‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ Tony winks at Steve and he finds he’s fighting down a blush. ‘The short version is this: I’m trying to move away from weapons production. I’m not happy with having this as our main source of revenue, and I have reason to believe that someone in my company is dealing under the table and I don’t like it. So while I try and find out who it is I’m branching out, trying my hand at a lot of different projects, all kinds of things from improving medical equipment at lower costs to phones and gadgets. My pet project has been the prosthesis one, the one which you were the first volunteer for. I was led to believe it had been a great success. After digging around after our conversation last night,’ he addresses this to Steve, ‘I’ve now got reason to believe that someone is deliberately trying to sabotage this project and was willing to have Bucky die from apparent complications to put pay to it once and for all.’

‘But why?’ Steve asks, fury coursing through him that someone would be that callous with regards a human life. His friend’s life.

‘That is what I intend to find out,’ Tony’s expression is hard, ‘though I have my suspicions it’s around trying to get my focus back on weapons development, and if I still argue, to get me locked out and someone else take over the running of the company.’

‘Could they do that?’ Bucky asks.

‘I don’t know,’ Tony admits, ‘but I’m not going to let them. I’m afraid this means I’m going to have to keep my distance from you for a while until I can get this sorted. I don’t want anyone realising I’m onto them. I’ve taken enough of a risk getting your treatment moved to Stephen’s care, but some friends of mine have already got hold of your old doctor. We’re hoping to have some more answers soon. Stephen says once the infection is under control we’ll get the arm that _I_ made attached to you, and I’ll be coming to help him with that so there’s no more chance of a screw up.’

‘Thank you,’ Bucky tells him.

‘Is there anything we can do, Tony?’ Steve asks. ‘You’re doing so much for us, there must be something we can do in return?’

‘I’ll be in touch,’ Tony replies with that same small smile Steve remembers from last night. ‘Take care both of you. All the medical bills are taken care of, you just focus on getting better. And remember: don’t mention this to _anyone_.’

‘We won’t’ Steve promises as he watches Tony leave with a backwards wave.

Once he’s gone Bucky looks at Steve. ‘Please don’t tell me you’re falling for Tony Stark.’

‘What? Where did _that_ come from?’ Steve demands.

‘Oh, Stevie,’ Bucky laughs and shakes his head. ‘You and me are going to have the birds and the bees talk.’

‘I hate you,’ Steve groans, burying his head in his hands again and trying to block out Bucky’s sniggers. Though he doesn’t try that hard. It’s good to hear him laughing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone. Hope you've all had a good week and you enjoyed this chapter, including Steve realising exactly who he'd been speaking to. Poor Steve haha.
> 
> Please do let me know what you think of this chapter as always. I like hearing what people think works and what doesn't as it quite often changes what I do in future chapters and stories.
> 
> Hope you all have a good week and thank you for sticking with my ramblings.
> 
> Stay safe and love always,
> 
> L x
> 
> As always here's your sneak peek:
> 
> ‘Just promise me you’ll be careful Tony,’ Pepper looks worried.
> 
> ‘Pepper if they start misbehaving just glare at them and you’ll have them cowering in the corner. Ow!’ he rubs his arm. ‘What was that for?’
> 
> ‘Remind me why I put up with you.’


	5. Plans In Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony deals with the aftermath of betrayal

‘Tony?’

‘What is it Pepper? Is there something else that I need to sign? Another pain in my ass trying to call me?’

‘No, Tony, I just want you to talk to me,’ the red head sighs, closing his office door and taking a seat on his desk, right next to his chair.

‘What could you possibly want me to talk to you about, Pepper? Hmm?’ he demands, pushing his chair away from the desk and frowning up at her.

‘Anything you want. What about everything that’s been happening with Obie?’ she suggests gently.

‘Oh you want me to talk about how the man who has basically been like a second father to me stabbed me in the back and tried to get me thrown out of the company, and quite possibly also ordered a hit on me? Or how about the fact that we’ve had to get rid of half the board because they were supporting him? Or the fact that they nearly killed a man trying to get what they wanted? Or how about the fact the company is about to bomb on the market because I’m about to announce we’re severely cutting our weapons production and I might cost potentially hundreds of my workers their jobs?’

‘For a start,’ Pepper nods, with seemingly unending patience.

‘Isn’t that what I’m supposed to pay a therapist for?’

‘Tony you make every therapist you see cry. If you want to talk to someone I’m the only one who isn’t going to scream, snap or slap you.’

‘I know,’ he replies, suddenly finding there’s tears in his eyes. They don’t even start falling before Pepper has pulled him into a tight hug. ‘Honestly, Pep,’ he laughs into her shoulder, ‘how did I survive before I knew you?’

‘Rhodey and Stephen,’ she replies, ‘and JARVIS of course.’

‘Thank you, Miss Potts, always a pleasure to be of service,’ his AI responds.

‘This is true,’ he lets himself enjoy the embrace for a few moments and then pulls away. ‘How am I such a screw up that the man who is supposed to be my godfather wants me out the way? Am I really that terrible a person?’

‘Tony Stark you are many things,’ Pepper says firmly. ‘You are most definitely a terrible pain in my ass. You can be arrogant, you can be stubborn and you can be impossible to organise. But you are also one of the most dedicated, kind, honest, hard-working and decent human beings I know. You are also generous to a fault. How many other people do you know who would have done what you did for Sergeant Barnes? Not to mention the amount you pay me for being a secretary.’ 

‘Pepper darling you are not just my secretary, you are also my therapist and personal lifeline.’

‘This is true. But my point still stands. All of this that happened? This is not because you are a terrible person, Tony, it’s because of other people’s greed.’

‘I love you, Pep.’

‘I love you too. Please talk to me about everything, I can’t stand to see you hurting and not know how to help.’

‘Alright, I promise.’

‘Now, what’s the next move, Mister Stark?’

‘The next move, Miss Potts,’ he replies, ‘is tying up our loose ends with the issue over Sergeant Barnes. There’s a couple of people still involved in all of that I want to see come to justice. JARVIS?’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘Bring up the list of people in Captain Rumlow’s squad.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Now, Pepper,’ he says, pointing at the list of names and pictures that his AI brings up. ‘Tell me what you see.’

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head, but there’s a small smile on her lips as well. ‘Alright… well we’ve got Captain Brock Rumlow, head of the squad who obviously knew about Barnes’ condition and covered it up. Then there’s the rest of the squad: Blake Matthews, Andrew Hampshire, Sam Wilson, Luke Albright, Caesar Magellan and Paul Withers. Hang on…’

‘Right. No Bucky and no Steve,’ Tony nods. ‘Now we know Bucky’s name: Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. With a bit of searching this is what JARVIS picked up.’

‘No way!’ Pepper’s eyes go wide. ‘He was in Special Ops?’

‘Yep. Most of the missions he was on are highly classified, and I thought it best not to get JARVIS to pry. What?’ he asks at Pepper’s raised eyebrow. ‘I want to stay on his good side alright?’

‘His good side?’ Pepper grins. ‘Or tall, blond, muscular and handsome’s good side?’

‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he huffs, not meeting her eyes.

Pepper laughs. ‘Oh come on, Tony, he’s completely your type! Plus he wasn’t exactly scared of standing up to you either, which is _definitely_ your type.’

‘Yeah, but that was before he knew who I was,’ Tony sighs, playing with one of the pens on his desk, ‘now I have no idea how he’ll be around me.’

‘Got any information on him?’

‘My, my, Miss Potts. Have I corrupted you?’

‘This is basically your version of swiping on Tinder,’ she retorts.

‘Ok fair point. Be prepared Miss Potts: here is our very own Steve.’

Pepper’s jaw genuinely falls open. ‘Wait. Steve is Captain Steve Rogers? Tony how…what…when…’

‘Yeah pretty much my reaction when I found out. He’s a genuine war hero. Not that many people outside of the military would know his name. Rhodey would genuinely _freak_ if I told him I’d met Captain Rogers.’

‘I’m kind of freaking out that you have had this much interaction with him. Ok now I _know_ he is your type. So go on, tell me: what’s your plan?’

Tony grins. ‘We’re going to ask Captain Rumlow’s squad to come and pay us a little visit. I need to make some changes to my security after all, and who better than the squad with a member who has the first functioning SI prosthesis?’

‘Just promise me you’ll be careful Tony,’ Pepper looks worried.

‘Pepper if they start misbehaving just glare at them and you’ll have them cowering in the corner. Ow!’ he rubs his arm. ‘What was that for?’

‘Remind me why I put up with you.’

* * *

‘Hey,’ Sam greets him and Bucky as soon as they walk in through the front door, ‘you guys better come into the living room and hear this.’

‘What the hell?’ Steve asks, looking at his friend, who simply shrugs in reply. He’s still getting used to seeing Bucky walking around looking as fit as ever, albeit with a metal arm attached to him. A metal arm that, true to Tony’s word, is functioning as well as a regular one, if not a little better. Steve’s got the bruises from sparring practise to testify.

‘Well, well, nice of you two to finally show your faces,’ Brock grumbles when they enter the room and find the rest of the squad there. ‘Now you’ve been free from hospital for two weeks it’s like we see you even less, Barnes.’

‘Pretty impossible seeing as I never saw you when I was there,’ Bucky retorts. ‘What’s going on, Rumlow?’

‘You’re still a member of my squad so it’s “Captain” to you, _Sergeant_.’

Bucky grinds his teeth, metal fist clenching, and then grits out. ‘What’s going on, _Captain_.’

Brock smirks at the two of them and Steve barely restrains himself from punching the bastard. ‘We have a summons and this time, it seems, you two are requested to be there.’

‘A summons where?’ Steve asks, frowning at the letter in Brock’s hand.

‘To Stark Industries.’

‘Stark Industries?’ Bucky repeats. ‘Why?’

‘They want to meet the man who has successfully had one of their new implants, and the whole squad has been invited to discuss a proposition according to this letter. We’re to meet Tony Stark himself tomorrow at two. So make sure you don’t go anywhere tomorrow, we want to be early. Understood?’

‘Yes sir,’ Sam answers for them all.

As everyone else files out Steve catches Bucky’s eye and can see something very similar going round his friend’s thoughts. _What is Tony up to?_

There is also a small part of his brain that’s been finding it incredibly difficult to get a small smile with a pair of intense dark eyes out of his head the last few weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the continued support you guys are absolutely incredible and I love you all. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones, we're definitely on the home straight for this story now. Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and as always if you have any requests for stories or scenes then let me know.
> 
> Love always,
> 
> L x
> 
> As always here's your sneak peek:
> 
> ‘Ah, I’m afraid that might be difficult, Mister Stark,’ Rumlow sighs in apparent regret. ‘You see I’ve had the new deployment details for both Rogers and Barnes through today. They’ll be redeployed and leaving at the end of the week.’
> 
> ‘What?’ Bucky demands. ‘And you’re only telling us this now?’
> 
> ‘Quiet, Sergeant,’ Rumlow snaps and glares at Bucky, ‘we’ll discuss this later.’
> 
> ‘Too damn right,’ Steve growls.


	6. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony faces off against Brock Rumlow

‘Hello gentlemen,’ Tony greets the squad as they enter the meeting room, he’s wearing another suit, but this time there’s no tie and his top button is undone, and Steve hadn’t realised quite how attractive he found the man until he finds himself facing him again. ‘Please take a seat,’ the inventor gestures to the chairs set around the table, ‘anyone want anything to drink?’

As a couple of assistants get the drinks sorted, Tony takes the seat at the head of the table and waits for the squad to get settled. Steve clenches his fist as he sees Rumlow take the chair on Tony’s left and points Andrew to take the one on Tony’s right, he and Bucky settle with the chairs near the other end of the table, Sam joining them. As the rest of the team get their drinks Steve takes the opportunity to study Tony, noticing the apparent easy-going attitude on his face, but the slight tension in his eyes and the way his fingers are tapping out a rhythm on the table are confirming Steve’s suspicions that there’s something more to this than Rumlow supposes.

‘Nice to see you out and about, Sergeant Barnes,’ Tony says, looking down the table at them, ‘I hope the arm is working well?’

‘It’s perfect,’ Bucky answers truthfully, ‘I can’t thank you enough.’

Tony waves him off. ‘Honestly I should be thanking you. The fact that it’s been so successful has meant the board is happy to give me the go ahead to put more focus into it.’

‘That’s good news,’ Bucky smiles, ‘if you can make more that can do half of what this has helped me do there’s going to be a lot of people get their lives changed for the better.’

The smile Tony gives is much easier than before. ‘I’m glad. Have you tried using it as you would in a combat situation?’

‘Steve’s been doing some exercises with me and it’s working well so far.’

‘I’ve got the bruises to prove it’s working more than just “well” if that’s any help,’ Steve adds.

Tony gives a small laugh and Steve gets butterflies in his stomach. What is wrong with him? He never gets hooked on people this quickly. ‘I would say I’m glad to hear it, but I’m not sure I should be happy at your physical injuries.’

‘He’s used to it,’ Bucky reassures him, ‘I’ve been giving him bruises since we were kids.’

‘And I’ve been getting your punk ass out of trouble just as long,’ Steve rolls his eyes, trying not to grin at the laughter he can see in Tony’s eyes.

‘We are hoping,’ Rumlow cuts in with a warning glare at Steve and Bucky, ‘that soon Barnes will be able to show just how useful the arm can be in active duty.’

‘Is that so?’ Tony leans back in his chair, turning his attention back to Rumlow. ‘My proposition may alter that slightly.’

‘Oh?’ Rumlow leans forwards on the table. ‘What proposition do you have for us Mister Stark?’

Tony studies Rumlow for a few moments before pressing a button on the desk. ‘Miss Potts can you bring in the paperwork please?’ As he turns back to face Rumlow the door opens and a tall red head walks in, carrying some paperwork. Steve suspects this is the formidable secretary that Tony has had numerous phone conversations with in their hearing. ‘Captain Rumlow, I have had to make some changes to my board and the top structure of my company due to some…differences of opinion in how the company should be run. As part of that I have also had to make some changes to my top security team. My Head of Security is unchanged, but I was hoping that your squad would be willing to help fill some of the gaps.’

Steve looks between Rumlow and Tony, watching both of their reactions carefully. _What the hell is he playing at?_ _Tony knows Rumlow was in on the cover up and trying to get Bucky killed; surely he’s not trying to use this as a way to get him arrested?_ Tony’s face is unreadable, if Steve hadn’t known what he did he would assume this was a genuine business deal.

Rumlow looks the most smug Steve has ever seen him. ‘It would be our pleasure, Mister Stark. What exactly would you need us to do?’

‘It’s my personal security team I need to replace,’ Tony answers, Miss Potts is standing to the side having placed the paperwork on the table, and is watching everything like a hawk. Steve is struck by how protective she seems of Tony. _Perhaps there is something more to their relationship than employer and employee,_ he thinks with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

If possible Rumlow’s eyes light up even more. ‘We’d be more than happy to accommodate, Mister Stark, we can have the whole squad ready to-’

‘-forgive me,’ Tony cuts him off, ‘but it is really only three members I need.’

Rumlow blinks, obviously caught off guard, but he recovers quickly. ‘Oh of course, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed. Perhaps we could work in shifts so there are always three people around you? Between the seven of us it would be a simple thing to organise.’

‘Seven?’ Tony frowns. ‘Forgive me, Captain Rumlow, but I count nine members of your squad, including you.’

Rumlow smiles in what he must assume is an apologetic manner. ‘Forgive me, Mister Stark, I should not have assumed you knew the structure of my squad. There are seven members including me, Barnes and Rogers are only assigned to me whilst they prepare to return to active duty.’

‘I see,’ Tony leans back in his chair, and casts a quick look to Miss Potts. ‘It is really only three people I need, Captain Rumlow, and I was hoping Sergeant Barnes could be one of them.’

‘Sergeant Barnes, Mister Stark?’ Rumlow frowns, and Steve is struck by how completely in control of this situation Tony is, and has to bite back on a smirk.

‘Well of course, Captain Rumlow,’ Tony shrugs. ‘Sergeant Barnes is the first soldier to have received one of our prosthesis, why would I not want him as part of my personal security team? Not only would it show how successful we have been, but it enables me to monitor the arm in the coming months and years to see what issues may arise and how easily they can be solved. It will make it easier to improve subsequent models.’

‘Ah, I’m afraid that might be difficult, Mister Stark,’ Rumlow sighs in apparent regret. ‘You see I’ve had the new deployment details for both Rogers and Barnes through today. They’ll be redeployed and leaving at the end of the week.’

‘What?’ Bucky demands. ‘And you’re only telling us this now?’

‘Quiet, Sergeant,’ Rumlow snaps and glares at Bucky, ‘we’ll discuss this later.’

‘Too damn right,’ Steve growls.

‘Huh. So not only do you withhold information from me about the state of health of the volunteer for my prosthesis project, in fact you out-right lie to my face about it, you also withhold information from them on where they are to be deployed. Frankly, Captain Rumlow, I’m not so sure I trust you to lead my personal security team. Especially considering your involvement with my former partner, Obadiah Stane, a man currently undergoing investigation into attempted murder. Coincidentally,’ Tony points to Bucky, ‘the attempted murder of one Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.’

Rumlow has gone still and is staring at Tony with a look that is making Steve nervous. He catches Bucky’s eye and his friend nods minutely. They’ve got to be ready to step in. ‘I don’t know what you’re implying, _Stark,_ but I’m not sure I like it.’

‘Tell me, Captain Rumlow,’ Tony continues in a fairly light tone, ‘where were you on the 3rd December last year?’

‘I was on leave,’ Rumlow responds, narrowing his eyes at Tony.

‘Yes I know. You are also an accomplished sniper are you not?

‘I’ve been told so.’

‘Yes. Incidentally my aforementioned former partner also apparently organised a hit on that date. A hit he contacted an accomplished army sniper about who just so happened to be on leave. Care to guess who the intended target was?’

‘How am I supposed to know?’

Steve feels like breaking something. Preferably Rumlow’s neck. He knows what Tony’s going to say before he answers. ‘The hit, Captain Rumlow, was on me. I was lucky. Or you’re not quite as good a sniper as you think you are.’

‘You fucking bastard,’ Steve growls, leaping to his feet and slamming his hands on the table. ‘I knew you were rotten, Rumlow, but this is beyond what even I thought you’d be capable of.’

‘Fuck you, Rogers,’ Rumlow snaps, standing to his feet as well, ‘and it’s still “Captain” to you in case you’d forgotten. You’re still part of this squad.’

‘The hell I am,’ he snaps. ‘And you don’t outrank me, so I’ll call you whatever the hell I like right now.’

‘There’s no proof it was me,’ Rumlow points out, ‘this is all pure conjecture, you’re just jumping to conclusions. Besides why the hell do you care, Rogers? I know you get a stick up your ass about doing our fucking “duty” but this is more than that. Wait,’ his eyes narrow and he looks between Steve and Tony and Bucky; then they widen in realisation. ‘You went to the party didn’t you? You fucking bastard you disobeyed my direct order and went to the party. You told them about Barnes’ arm.’

‘Of course I did,’ Steve replies, ‘you were letting my friend _die_.’

‘And because of that,’ Tony interjects, ‘I was able to find out what Obadiah was doing. In an attempt to save himself he gave us your name and everything you did to help him. Well,’ he shrugs, ‘I say _us_ what I really mean is: he told the authorities.’

Rumlow growls and then spins to face Tony, reaching to his back and pulling out a handgun, holding it pointing straight in the middle of Tony’s forehead. Steve reacts by reaching back and pulling out his own gun, aiming straight for Rumlow.

Tony doesn’t blink. ‘And what do you think this is going to achieve, Captain?’

‘If I’m going down I’ll take you with me and finish the job,’ Rumlow snarls. ‘You should have died last year, you were just lucky you got away.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Steve responds, taking the safety off his gun. ‘Put the gun down, Rumlow.’

‘You first, Rogers,’ Andrew says, standing up and pointing his own gun at Steve.

‘Stand down,’ Bucky says, getting out his own and pointing it at Andrew.

‘Don’t, Barnes,’ Paul says, standing with his own pointing at Bucky.

‘Stop it,’ Sam adds, standing up with his own at Paul.

‘Sam, what are you doing?’ Caesar demands, pointing his gun at Sam.

‘Do you all carry guns with you all the time or am I just lucky?’ Tony asks. He raises an eyebrow at Luke and Blake. ‘Well who are you two going to point yours at?’

Luke, the youngest member of the squad who hasn’t been with them long just looks between everyone. ‘I…uh…I didn’t bring mine.’

Tony barks out a laugh. ‘Brilliant, kid, absolutely brilliant.’

‘Well Stark?’ Rumlow demands. ‘You going to start a blood bath or you going to back down?’

‘What do you want me to do?’ Tony asks, raising an eyebrow, still apparently unconcerned at the gun in his face.

‘You let me and my squad go, you don’t send anyone after us. And you give us a week headstart.’

‘So you want to go AWOL from the army and me not help them track you? Somehow I don’t think that’s going to work, do you?’

‘Your choice,’ Rumlow says, taking his safety off. ‘You have until I count to three. One.’

Steve doesn’t let him get any further. He shoots the hand that’s holding the gun pointing at Tony, sending the weapon spinning and Rumlow clutching his hand in agony. Using the moment of surprise he then shoots the gun out of Caesar’s hand. Bucky’s only a split second behind his shot at Rumlow, firing at Andrew and then Paul. Sam’s left holding his gun and blinking at the lack of enemy. As Blake gets to his feet though, he reacts quickly and presses the gun to the other’s head.

‘Oh no you don’t,’ Sam says, ‘stay down soldier.’

‘Pepper?’ Tony says, tone still light as he stands up. ‘Would you be a darling and organise for the trash to be taken out please?’

‘Of course,’ Miss Potts’ voice barely quavers and Steve has to admire her strength. ‘Will that be all, Mister Stark?’

‘That will be all, Miss Potts.’ Then he turns to Steve and Bucky. ‘So… do you guys want the job?’

‘Sam’s got to be with us,’ Steve gestures at their friend.

‘Of course,’ Tony grins. ‘Is that your only request, Captain Rogers?’

‘For now,’ Steve smiles, putting his gun away as security officers come in to deal with the rest of the squad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter - we're only two away from the end now. Thank you so much to everyone who is reading this story, and especially to those of you leaving comments. Please do let me know what you think, and if you have any requests for any other fairytales.
> 
> Take care everyone!  
> Love always,  
> L x
> 
> And here's your sneak peek:
> 
> ‘I’ll warn you, Steve,’ Pepper sighs as he walks towards Tony’s office, ‘he’s in a particularly difficult mood today.’  
>  Steve laughs and shakes his head. ‘Are we talking difficult as in he’s in a really bad mood and snapping at everyone, or difficult as in he wants to try and make it round every bar in New York in one night?’  
>  ‘The latter,’ she rolls her eyes, ‘I’m trying to get him on a creative binge but he’s having none of it.’


	7. Prince Charming and Cinderella

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A happily ever after

‘I’ll warn you, Steve,’ Pepper sighs as he walks towards Tony’s office, ‘he’s in a particularly difficult mood today.’

Steve laughs and shakes his head. ‘Are we talking difficult as in he’s in a really bad mood and snapping at everyone, or difficult as in he wants to try and make it round every bar in New York in one night?’

‘The latter,’ she rolls her eyes, ‘I’m trying to get him on a creative binge but he’s having none of it.’

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he smiles at her in sympathy.

‘Careful Steve,’ Pepper grins at him, ‘the mood he’s in he’ll convince you to go on a date if you aren’t careful.’

‘I,’ Steve tries to fight down the blush, ‘I think that would be highly inappropriate considering my position here.’

‘Since when has that ever stopped Tony?’ she asks, raising an eyebrow and gesturing to the door. ‘Off you go, soldier.’

‘Why do I feel like you’re helping him in this mission?’ Steve rolls his eyes and knocks on the office door.

‘Come in!’ Tony’s voice rings out.

Steve opens the door and closes it on Pepper’s smirking face. ‘Ready to go, Mister St-’

‘No, stop right there,’ Tony points at him without looking up from his phone. ‘None of that “Mister Stark” crap Steve or I’m reverting to Captain Rogers.’

‘Fine,’ he rolls his eyes, ‘are you ready to go Tony?’

‘Depends. Where are you taking me?’ the billionaire lifts a suggestive eyebrow.

‘Home I assume?’

‘Oh Captain Rogers, what a wonderful proposition.’

‘I meant _your_ home, Tony,’ Steve sighs, ‘you know so you can get on with some of that work that Pepper is always complaining you need to get done?’

Tony waves the point off. ‘I can think of some much more entertaining things I could be doing than work, Steve. Care to hear some of them?’

‘I don’t think we’d have time to get through all of the ideas your genius mind could come up with,’ Steve responds.

Tony laughs. ‘Flattery will get you everywhere, Rogers. Now where do you want to go?’

Steve opens his mouth to repeat what he’s just said about taking Tony home but Bucky’s voice from last night stops him.

“ _When are you going to stop with the excuses of working for him and actually ask him out on a date? Because if you don’t I’m going to end up doing it for you so I don’t have to watch you pine anymore.”_

He’d punched his friend on the shoulder for the comment but the first part is striking a chord right now. Is he really just using this an excuse? He knows he likes Tony. Who wouldn’t? The guy was stunning, one of the funniest people Steve had ever met, generous to a fault, and incredibly intelligent. Not to mention one of the most frustrating people in the world to try and keep safe.

‘Steve? You alright? You know I’m only joking right? I mean I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I’m not going to push if you don’t-’

‘There’s an Italian round the corner from me.’

‘I’m sorry what?’ Tony blinks.

Steve just realises what he’s blurted out. Well he’s just going to have to run with it now. ‘You asked where I’d like to go,’ he says, trying to pretend to be more relaxed about it than his racing heart was suggesting and shrugging, ‘there’s an Italian round the corner from me. Giacomo’s. I mean…’ he tries not to fidget, ‘if you don’t have any other plans do you fancy going? Tonight?’

Tony’s blinking and staring at him as though he’s struggling to process what he’s heard. ‘Wait….you want me to go to dinner with you? Tonight?’

‘If you want to?’

‘As friends or…as a date?’

Steve swallows and takes a deep breath. ‘Would you like to go on a date with me, Tony? I’d like to take you to Giacomo’s if you want to go for dinner?’

‘I…I genuinely didn’t think this was ever going to happen outside of my fantasies,’ Tony laughs. ‘Yes, Steve, I’d love to.’

‘So…how about I drop you home and then pick you up around six?’

Tony smiles, that same small smile that Steve remembers from their first meeting. It still makes his stomach flutter. ‘That would be perfect.’

‘I’m paying,’ Steve warns him as he comes round from behind his desk. ‘No arguments.’

‘Steve I can-’

‘No Tony,’ Steve says, placing his hands on the shorter man’s shoulders. ‘Please let me do this. You came into my life like some kind of Prince Charming and saved my best friend’s life, got me out from under Rumlow and gave us all a job here. Just let me do something back for you.’

‘You mean apart from when you saved my life by stopping Rumlow from shooting me?’

‘Yes,’ Steve rolls his eyes, ‘that was only the start.’

‘Fine,’ Tony sighs, ‘but I’m paying for the second one. I mean…’ he suddenly looks unsure, which is not something Steve is used to seeing on his face, ‘if you want another one that is.’

‘I’m hoping there will be many more,’ he reassures him. Then, throwing caution to the wind he reaches up to cup Tony’s cheek with one hand and presses a soft kiss to the inventor’s lips.

‘I always thought you were more old school than this,’ Tony comments when Steve pulls away, ‘I wasn’t expecting a kiss until at least date two.’

‘Glad I could surprise you,’ he grins.

As they turn to leave the office Tony turns to him with a grin. ‘If I’m Prince Charming does that make you Cinderella?’

‘Come on, Tony,’ Steve rolls his eyes, placing a hand on the small of Tony’s back to lead him out of the office, ‘or I may change my mind about tonight.’

‘Nah,’ Tony winks at him, ‘you’re stuck with me now, Cinderella.’

Steve’s actually quite happy with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What's this? Double update. Yeah I felt like being nice. Enjoy the epilogue!
> 
> Love always,  
> L x


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony tells a bed time fairytale

‘Once upon a time there was a blond soldier and their friend, who had been hurt very badly in a war so had come home to get better, but there was an evil man who decided he didn’t want the soldier’s fried to get better so he certain that the magical arm that had been sent to him would make him worse. The soldier was getting very worried about his friend so he went to a ball where lots of very smart people were going, hoping to find someone to help him. While he was there he met a handsome Prince Charming who-’

‘Dad this is definitely _not_ Cinderella,’ the young girl huffs, crossing her arms over her chest where she’s sitting up in bed.

‘It is,’ he protests.

‘It’s not the _proper_ version of Cinderella,’ the young boy in the bed opposite counters.

‘It’s a much _better_ version,’ he argues, ‘it’s _my_ version.’

‘Cinderella is supposed to be a servant girl, and there’s supposed to be ugly stepsisters and an evil stepmother,’ she says.

‘You didn’t let me get to them yet.’

‘Are you two giving your Dad a hard time?’ an amused voice says from the door.

‘We asked for Cinderella and he’s not telling us the proper version,’ the girl pouts.

Steve laughs as he comes into the room, sitting at the end of her bed. ‘Let me guess, he’s telling you his own version isn’t he?’

‘Yes,’ she says, ‘and it’s stupid.’

‘Hey now,’ Tony protests, ‘don’t go hating on my version of Cinderella, Morgan, it’s the story of how me and your Papa got together.’

‘But it’s not a _fairytale_ ,’ she argues.

‘Yeah, because fairytales aren’t real,’ the young boy adds.

Tony pats his legs through the covers where he’s sitting at the end of his bed. ‘And who told you that, Peter?’

‘All the kids at school,’ he replies, big brown eyes wide, ‘and all the teachers.’

‘Well what would you say if I said I thought they were real, hmm?’ Tony counters.

‘Maybe they are,’ Morgan says, voice quiet, ‘because you know evil monsters are real, Pete, so maybe fairytales are too.’

‘What do you mean by evil monsters, Morgan?’ Steve asks her, voice gentle.

‘The monsters that lock you in your room when you’ve done something bad,’ she replies, lip quivering. ‘The ones that shout and make loud noises and throw things at you.’

‘Hey,’ Steve gathers their adopted daughter into his arms, pulling her onto his lap, ‘those monsters are never going to come and get you again, you hear me? You don’t have to worry about them.’

‘But what if they do?’ Peter asks as he fiddles with his covers. ‘What if they come and find us when you aren’t here?’

Tony looks over at Steve as he copies what his husband had done with Morgan and pulls Peter into his lap. He knows the look on the blond’s face well by now: barely controlled anger with a hint of loss. They’d decided to adopt and had managed to be accepted fairly easily, despite being a same sex couple, and the result, a few years later, was the beautiful boy and girl they were currently holding. Steve had insisted they would take on some of the more challenging children, the ones who had kept being returned because no one could cope with their problems. They were both stubborn enough not to give up and they had the resources to provide whatever support the children needed.

Morgan had come from a home filled with domestic violence, thankfully never fully aimed at her, but she’d been caught in the crossfire too many times and when her mother and father had been arrested for a variety of offenses, she’d been placed in care. Peter had already known more than his fair share of pain and loss in his young life, barely seven he’d already lost both of his parents and had been taken in by his aunt and uncle; unfortunately his uncle was raging alcoholic who got violent when he drank. The result: Peter’s aunt had been killed after years of abuse and Peter himself had been regularly beaten, with most of the family’s money going on booze for his uncle there hadn’t been much for food or medicine and Peter’s lungs had always been bad. His asthma was now very severe and, despite now living with them for almost a year, he was still skinny and underweight. Stephen Strange had decided to do some studying into paediatric medicine and development (something he’d mastered before they even had the children once they said they were thinking of adopting) and was now the children’s personal doctor. He argued he was pre-empting them turning into mini-Tony’s, but Tony knew better: Stephen wouldn’t have trusted any other doctor to take proper care of them.

Both children had made amazing progress since they’d first arrived, and they had weekly meeting with Doctor Banner, a child psychologist whose mild manner and easy smile both children had quickly fallen in love with. There were very few nights, however, when they’d both sleep through without one or both of them waking up from nightmares; and there were some nights, like tonight, where they were going to struggle to get to sleep as memories came back to haunt them.

‘You know what?’ Tony says, feeling his heart break at the tears in Peter’s eyes. ‘I think I just remembered another fairytale, and I bet you won’t have heard of this one.’

Peter, already showing signs of rivalling Tony’s intellect, can never resist a new story and immediately perks up. ‘What’s it about?’

‘How about you both get back into bed and I’ll tell you the story of the young prince and princess from the faraway land?’

The children nod and climb back under their covers; Tony runs his fingers through Peter’s hair soothingly, and Steve does the same for Morgan. ‘Are there monsters in it?’ she asks.

‘There’s lots of them,’ he replies, ‘more monsters than you can count and the only goal they all have is to capture the prince and princess from their castle; you see the princess was supposed to be so beautiful that no one could ever hope to compare. She had long black hair that shone, and sparkling brown eyes and she had a laugh that could melt the meanest heart.’

‘She sounds like you,’ Peter says to Morgan.

‘What was the prince like?’ she asks.

‘He was the smartest prince the land had ever seen, smarter even than his father, but he was also kind and always wanted to help the people of the kingdom.’

‘He sounds like you,’ Morgan giggles to Peter. Beside her Steve smiles at Tony.

‘Did the monsters get them?’ Peter asks.

‘They all tried, but none of them could get past the guardians that had been put in place to guard the prince and princess,’ Tony continues. ‘The first two were known as the Hawk and the Falcon, brave warriors who could see even the sneakiest monster as they tried to get past the gate, and they were so fast that no monster could escape once they decided to attack.’

‘That’s like Uncle Clint and Uncle Sam who work with Papa,’ Morgan whispers.

‘And then,’ Tony says, ‘then there was the warrior known as the Honeybear, a brave and noble warrior who stood in the middle of the walkway and wouldn’t let anyone past. It is said that he once fought off an entire army of monsters, and didn’t even break a sweat.’

‘That’s Uncle Rhodey,’ Morgan giggles.

‘Nah, if it was Uncle Rhodey the Honeybear just had to glare at the monsters to make them run away. Just like he does with Dad,’ Peter counters.

‘Hey, do you want to hear this story or not?’ Tony raises an eyebrow, the children quickly apologise and quieten again. ‘Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,’ more giggling from the two children, ‘if the monsters somehow managed to get past the Honeybear they were then faced with the biggest challenge yet: the White Wolf and his fearsome partner Lady Spider. These two fighters were the fiercest yet, and nothing could compare to the love they had for the prince and the princess, the White Wolf alone would tear apart any monster that even _thought_ about trying to harm the two of them, and if any survived they then had to face his partner. Lady Spider was beautiful but even the bravest monster was scared of her for she could defeat swarms of them effortlessly, without even letting a single hair on her head fall out of place.’

‘That’s got to be Aunty Nat,’ Morgan whispers, ‘she makes everyone scared!’

‘Which means Uncle Bucky is the Wolf,’ Peter agrees.

‘And _then_ ,’ Tony continues, ‘if that wasn’t enough for the monsters to have to deal with, then they came to the castle walls and they faced an even fiercer opponent. For this opponent was one they could not see and so did not know how to defeat; but this opponent knew everything that happened within the castle walls and would do anything needed to keep the prince and princess save from harm. They couldn’t even _sneeze_ without this opponent knowing about it and checking to make sure it was nothing serious.’

‘This is JARVIS,’ Peter yawns, eyelids starting to droop.

‘This opponent was the fiercest of all in his protection of the prince and the princess,’ Tony’s voice gets quieter now the children are starting to fall asleep. ‘He was their Guardian Angel and would alert any of the other guardians if an intruder managed to make their way to the castle. No monster, no matter how small, no matter how sneaky, could escape his notice. And none of them would escape him.

‘And if,’ Tony smiles as the two children struggle to stay awake to hear the end of the story, ‘if by some miracle they made it past the Angel, then they had two more sets of challenges, and the next one was one that no one, not monster or guardian, had ever managed to face down. The next guardian was the Fire Lady and no one could withstand her fiery glare; there is not a soul brave enough in the entire _world_ to stand against the Fire Lady when she is angry and defending those she loves. Not even your Papa would dare to stand against her.’

‘Definitely Aunty Pepper,’ Morgan yawns.

‘And lastly,’ Tony presses a kiss to Peter’s head then goes over to Morgan’s to do the same for her, ‘lastly any monster who wanted the prince or princess would have to go through the Kings, their fathers. There is nothing that the Golden King has ever faced, that has ever tried to hurt someone he cared about, and escaped from his justice, and there is nothing that ever will.’ Tony presses a quick kiss to Steve’s lips as he finishes his story.

‘What about the other king?’ Peter murmurs.

‘The other king,’ Steve picks up the story, ‘is the Iron King, and he has made so many different ways of protecting those he loves that the Golden King doesn’t even need to worry about facing anyone, for he knows no one can get past the shields that the Iron King has put in place.’

‘So you see,’ Tony picks up the story again, ‘the prince and the princess live happy and safe in their home, protected by so many guardians that love them that no monster will ever be able to touch them.’

‘Is this fairytale real?’ Morgan asks.

‘Of course it is, young miss,’ JARVIS responds, ‘it is _your_ fairytale.’

‘I think they’d be safer with a guard dog,’ Peter mumbles before sleep finally claims them both.

Tony and Steve creep from the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind them. ‘You got their nightlight on J?’

‘Of course, sir, I selected the constellation light for tonight. I believe it will go well with their bedtime story.’

‘Thanks, J, and thanks for helping with the story.’

‘A pleasure as always, sir.’

‘Think we should get a guard dog just to be safe?’ Steve grins at him.

‘Not in this tower we’re not,’ he argues, ‘there’s no space for one.’

‘Really? No space? You’ve seen the size of this tower right?’

‘Not for a dog, and you know that’s what I meant,’ Tony huffs.

Steve laughs, pressing a kiss to his forehead as they head towards their own room. ‘I know, honey, I’m just teasing you.’

‘I could look at getting the house at Long Island sorted though,’ Tony grins, smiling spreading as the excitement on Steve’s face grows, ‘make sure the grounds are dog-escape-proof. Then maybe we could have a couple of guard dogs.’

‘A couple?’

‘In the interest of fairness? I’d say four. Then we can choose one each.’

‘I love you,’ Steve laughs.

‘I know,’ Tony grins. ‘I love you too, Cinderella.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: And there you have it ladies and gentlemen: the end of my first Marvel fairytale. I couldn't help add a huge amount of family fluff in at the end. I was on a dog walk and suddenly had the image of Tony telling their fairytale to a little Morgan and Peter and just had to add it.
> 
> Please please do let me know what you thought, I do love hearing everyone's opinions on things. Also please do let me know if you have any requests for fairytales for me to take on, or any pairings. I'm wanting this series to be a bit more of a challenge for me with different pairings so let me know if there's any you want to see.
> 
> Next up from me though, is the next instalment in my main series 'Restoration' and it's my take on Infinity War and End Game.
> 
> Stay safe out there everyone!
> 
> Love always,
> 
> L x


End file.
